President Barack Obama shouldn"t be surprised if his approval rating among students has plummeted
(陡然变差). In a recent speech about US education, he called for extending the school day and year.
The challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom. Why more time? Because US
students are falling behind students in other countries, he said.
     More school
    US schools need to lengthen school days and the school year. If we intend to stay competitive with
the rest of the world on test scores and in the job market, we need to add classroom hours and get rid
of summer break almost entirely. As President Obama said, South Korean students spend more than a
month longer in school-and achieve better results than us.
     The current twoterm school year and the school days that form it were developed based on an old
system of agriculture. The long summer break allowed children to be home to help tend the fields. It is
not necessary anymore. It may not be popular to cut summer break or extend school days, but that"s the
only way to improve US education and get back the American jobs lost to foreign countries.
     Home Time
     Adding school hours won"t solve the problems with our school system. The USA is different from
other countries. US families have full schedules, with participation in sports, community groups, and other
interests. In places such as South Korea, where only several hours of a day aren"t spent on school
work, children don"t have time to participate in many of those activities.
     Giving kids time outside of school allows them to grow in other areas. That"s just as important as
learning fractions (分数). Fingers shouldn"t be pointed at the school year for being too short, but at
teachers and schools that don"t challenge their students and just pass kids along to the next grade. We
do need to hold ourselves accountable for an education system falling behind other countries, but we
also need a solution that actually works.

Title	Should School Hours Be 1. ________
Barack Obama"s ideas arouse a 2. ____	US students need 3. ________time to keep up with students in other countries.
Different opinions	4. _          __   views	To keep 5. ________in the world and in the job market;   The long summer break is 6. ________;   Adding school hours is the only 7. ________to improve US education.
	Objectors"   views	Adding school hours isn"t a 8. ______to the problems with the school system;   Giving kids enough 9. ________time allows them to grow in other areas;  What actually needs to be done is to 10. ________the current education system.
1. Lengthened/Extended    2. debate/discussion    3. more   4. Supporters"     5. competitive 6. unnecessary   7. way      8.   solution     9. afterschool    10. change
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Children become more generous as they get older, learning the principles of equality by the age of eight.That may not be too surprising to anyone who has kids.      Humans are born with a sense of fairness that most other animals seem not to share, but it"s not been clear exactly when this concept starts to develop.      Dr.Alva Zhao and her colleagues conducted a series of tests to measure just how much children care about equality at different ages.In three different versions of a game, children were asked to choose between two ways of sharing a number of sweets with themselves and an unfamiliar partner.They could choose, for example, between one for me and one for you, or just having one for themselves.      At the age of three, children were "almost completely selfish", says Zhao.      They refused to give sweets away even if it made no difference to themselves.But by the age of eight, children generally preferred the fair option, sharing a prize equally rather than keeping it all to themselves.      Several other factors influenced how fair the children were.The team found that children without brothers or sisters were 28% more likely to share than children with brothers or sisters.On the other hand, the youngest children in a family were 17% less willing to share than children who had only younger brother or sister.      In addition, if children knew that their partner was from the same playgroup or school, they were more concerned about being fair.This suggests that being nice to people you know is something that develops a sense of equality. 1. The main idea of the first paragraph is________. A. parents know clearly when their kids are more willing to share B. the kids" willingness of sharing is learned from their family C. the older the kids are, the more selfish they will become D. kids become more generous when they reach a certain age 2. The tests conducted by Dr.Alva Zhao and her colleagues were aimed at________. A. how kids develop a quality of fairness in games B. children"s awareness of equality at different ages C. the reasons why children care about equality D. children"s attitudes towards other partners 3. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage? A. Children under three know little about being fair. B. Children above eight years old become less selfish. C. Children with brothers or sisters tend to be more generous. D. The youngest child in a family tends to be less generous. 4. We can learn that children care more about equality while with________. A. unknown people   B. nice people C. familiar people D. fair people
短文填词 Why do people travel? Well, many people travel b________they want to see other ________(国家) and visit places that are famous, ________(有趣的) and beautiful.People also travel to meet new friends, to try new k________of food, to experience life in other parts of the world or simply to get________from cold weather. Yet there are other reasons________people travel. Many of today"s travelers are looking________an unusual experience and adventure travel is becoming more and more________(受欢迎). One kind of adventure travel is hiking.Instead of s________your vacation on a bus or in a hotel, you will get c________to nature and take exercise by climbing mountains.
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In this age of Internet chat,   videogames and reality television,   there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied. Yet,   despite the competition,   my 8yearold daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest,   a competition she won last year.      As a writer I know about winning contests,   and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection slip from the publisher. I also know the pressure of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn"t win the contest again? That"s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and dashed hopes can surface.      A revelation (启示) came last week when I asked her,   "Don"t you want to win again?" "No,  " she replied,   "I just want to tell the story of an angel going to first grade."      I had just spent weeks correcting her stories as she spontaneously (自发地) told them. Telling myself that I was merely an experienced writer guiding the young writer across the hall,   I offered suggestions for characters,   conflicts and endings for her tales. The story about a fearful angel starting first grade was quickly "guided" by me into the tale of a little girl with a wild imagination taking her first music lesson. I had turned her contest into my contest without even realizing it.      Staying back and giving kids space to grow is not as easy as it looks. Because I know very little about farm animals who use tools or angels who go to first grade,   I had to accept the fact that I was coopting(借用) my daughter"s experience.      While stepping back was difficult for me,   it was certainly a good first step that I will quickly follow with more steps,   putting myself far enough away to give her room but close enough to help if asked. All the while I will be reminding myself that children need room to experiment,   grow and find their own voices. 1. What do we learn from the first paragraph? A. A lot of entertainments compete for children"s time nowadays. B. Rebecca is much too occupied to enjoy her leisure time. C. Children do find lots of fun in many mindless activities. D. Rebecca draws on a lot of online materials for her writing. 2. What did the author say about her own writing experience? A. She did not quite live up to her reputation as a writer. B. Her way to success was full of pains and frustrations. C. She was constantly under pressure of writing more. D. Most of her stories had been rejected by publishers. 3. The author took great pains to correct her daughter"s stories because ______. A. she wanted to help Rebecca realize her dreams of becoming a writer B. she was afraid Rebecca"s imagination might run wild while writing C. she did not want to disappoint Rebecca who needed her help so much D. she believed she had the knowledge and experience to offer guidance 4. What"s the author"s advice for parents? A. Children should not be given every chance to voice their opinions. B. Parents should keep an eye on the activities their kids engage in. C. Children should be allowed freedom to grow through experience. D. A writing career,   though attractive,   is not for every child to pursue.
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President Coolidge"s statement, "The business of America is business," still points to an important truth today-that business institutions have more prestige (威望)  in American society than any other kind of organization, including the government. Why do business institutions possess this great prestige?      One reason is that Americans view business as being more firmly based on the ideal of competition than other institutions in society. Since competition is seen as the major source of progress and prosperity by most Americans, competitive business institutions are respected. Competition is not only good in itself, it is the means by which other basic American values such as individual freedom, equality of opportunity, and hard work are protected.       Competition protects the freedom of the individual by ensuring that there is no monopoly(垄断.  of power. In contrast to one, all-powerful government, many businesses compete against each other for profits.   Theoretically, if one business tries to take unfair advantage of its customers, it will lose to competing business which treats its customers more fairly. Where many businesses compete for the customers" dollar, they cannot afford to treat them like inferiors or slaves.      A contrast is often made between business, which is competitive, and government, which is a monopoly. Because business is competitive, many Americans believe that it is more supportive of freedom than government, even though government leaders are elected by the people and business leaders are not. Many Americans believe, then, that competition is as important, or even more important, than democracy in preserving freedom.      Competition in business is also believed to strengthen the ideal of equality of opportunity. Competition is seen as an open and fair race where success goes to the swiftest person regardless of his or her social class background. Competitive success is commonly seen as the American alternative to social rank based on family background. Business is therefore viewed as and expression of the idea of equality of opportunity rather than the aristocratic(贵族的) idea of inherited privilege. 1. The statement "The business of America is business" probably means"________". A.  The business institutions in America are concerned with commerce B.  Business problems are of great importance to the American government C.  Business is of primary concern to Americans D.  America is a great power in world business 2. Americans believe that they can realize their personal values only_____ . A.  when given equality of opportunity       B.  through doing business C.  by protecting their individual freedom     D.  by way of competition 3. Who can benefit from business competition? A.  Honest businessmen.                     B.  Both businessmen and their customers. C.  People with ideals of equality and freedom   D.  Both business institutions and government. 4. Government is believed to differ strikingly from business in that government is characterized by ____. A. its absolute control of power           B.  its function in preserving personal freedom C.  its role in protecting basic American values     D.  its democratic way of exercising leadership 5. It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes  _____  . A.  Americans are more ambitious than people in other countries         B.  in many countries success often depends on one"s social status C.  American businesses are more democratic than those in other countries D.  businesses in other countries are not as competitive as those in America
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The appeal of advertising to buying motives can have both negative and positive effects. Consumers may be convinced to buy a product of poor quality or high price because of an advertisement. For example, some advertisers appealed to people"s desire for better fuel economy for their cars by advertising automotive products that improve gasoline mileage. Some of the products work.. Others are worthless and a waste of consumers" money.      Sometimes advertising is intentionally misleading. A few years ago a brand of bread was offered to dieters (节食者.  with the message that there were fewer calories (热量单位,大卡.  in every slice. It turned out that the bread was not dietetic (适合于节食的. , but just regular bread. There were fewer calories because it was sliced very thin, but there were the same number of calories in every loaf.      On the positive side, emotional appeals may respond to a consumer"s real concerns. Consider fire insurance. Fire insurance may be sold by appealing to fear of loss. But fear of loss is the real reason for fire insurance. The security of knowing that property is protected by insurance makes the purchase of fire insurance a worthwhile investment for most people. If consumers consider the quality of the insurance plans as the message in the ads, they will benefit from the advertising.      Each consumer must evaluate her or his own situation. Are the benefits of the product important enough to justify buying it? Advertising is intended to appeal to consumers, but it does not force them to buy the product. Consumers still control the final buying decision. 1. Advertising can persuade the consumer to buy worthless products by ________. A. stressing their high quality         B. convincing him of their low price C. maintaining a balance between quality and price D. appealing to his buying motives 2. The reason why the bread advertisement is misleading is that ________. A. thin slices of bread could contain more calories B. the loaf was cut into regular slices C. the bread was not genuine bread D. the total number of calories in the loaf remained the same 3. The passage tells us that _________. A. sometimes advertisements really sell what the consumer needs B. advertisements occasionally force consumers into buying things they don"t need C. the buying motives of consumers are controlled by advertisements D. fire insurance is seldom a worthwhile investment 4. It can be inferred from the passage that a smart consumer should ________. A. think carefully about the benefits described in the advertisements B. guard against the deceiving nature of advertisements C. be familiar with various advertising strategies D. avoid buying products that have strong emotional appeal 5. The passage is mainly about _________. A. how to make a wise buying decision B. ways to protect the interests of the consumer C. the positive and negative aspects of advertising D. the function of advertisements in promoting sales